Concord

Concord is an incredibly distinct PvP shooter in an incredibly busy space. Tight, polished gameplay drives its diverse cast along a number of memorable maps. Distinctly old-school in its execution, it is multiplayer game stripped of annoyance and packed with fun.

Fun, quickfire game modes and solid multiplayer shooting help steer Concord through an asteroid field of scepticism and unhinged vitriol but the space odyssey doesn't end here. Like any live service, Concord's ongoing vitality and potential appeal to new fans will hinge on its post-launch support, content roadmap, and building on Firewalk's exciting foundation.

At the risk of disappointing its detractors, Concord is a very good hero shooter that could very well overshadow the big names in the genre, if a community of players takes it that far. Firewalk's service game is based on solid arguments: great shooting sensations, 16 varied and perfectly oiled heroes, impeccable technique and artistic direction and even attractive tactical perspectives. As it stands, we just regret overly classic game modes as well as a universe that would have deserved a more important place within the experience... Two points that are not set in stone and that will most certainly improve with future updates (all free, there is no season pass or battle pass, let us remind you). A very good choice. We loved it.

Concord gets the fundamentals right: unique characters, strong art direction and tightly designed combat make for thrilling matches with Crew Bonuses adding a welcome extra level of strategy. Uninteresting progression, unrealised storytelling potential and a lack of personality hold it back, but a commitment to the content roadmap and worldbuilding could salvage things. I am hopeful Firewalk Studios can turn things around given the chance.

Concord is too daring a gamble for Firewalk and PlayStation Studios, who are releasing a 100% multiplayer pay-to-play game in a pool of already famous free-to-play games. While the game isn't fundamentally bad, it's slower and less dynamic than its rivals, which will hold some players back, and in no way revolutionizes the genre, which might have justified the entry fee. The game aims to be that “hero-shooter for casuals par excellence”, but does this genre have a place in today's ecosystem, and a paying one at that? Unfortunately, it's hard to see a bright future for Concord without some radical rethinking.

Concord isn't a bad game. It's a solid hero-shooter with appropriate gunplay and movement. With the right squad by your side, the 5v5-matches are solid fun. Yet again, Concord plays it very safe and doesn't stand out in any department against free-to-play-competitors like Valorant or Apex Legends.

Concord presents great gameplay as a first person shooter while taking us back to simpler times with a traditional progression system. Unfortunately, its lack of personality means that it fails to capture the attention it should in a genre where there are already too many games.

A lot of fun (and weird storytelling choices) at a reasonable price, with no sweaty jungle of microtransactions, Concord has respect for both your time and your wallet. [Issue#45, p.92]

Concord is a decent shooter with rock-solid mechanics and AAA visuals, but that’s not enough to attract an audience to yet another live-service game. As is, it’s a fine release, albeit one that feels like it was pumped out of a boardroom algorithm. If you’ve got $40 to spare and aren’t hung up by comparisons to similar shooters (like the free-to-play Destiny 2, Valorant, and the upcoming Marvel Rivals), Concord is a fun time, flaws and all.

Concord provides a highly enjoyable and satisfying FPS experience, but needs more time in the oven if it wants to succeed in the highly competitive hero shooter and live-service market.

Concord largely nails the fundamentals - it feels highly responsive, is handsomely made, has good feeling, if slower gunplay than other games, super stable servers and minor concerns aside, has a roster of mostly well balanced characters. With Concord's obviously passionate team of developers confirming that they are absolutely in it for “years to come”, I would love for Concord to still be around in one, two or three years time and even beyond that. I just don't know if gamers who have been experiencing varying amounts of genre fatigue will be generous enough to put a significant amount of time into a title that, on the starting blocks at least, seems roundly decent enough but doesn't offer anything thunderously new to upset the status quo. I know that I'll be playing Concord in the weeks and months to come, I'm just not sure a sufficient number of other folks will be joining me.

Concord isn’t the most innovative or content-heavy hero shooter you could play, but with such fantastic competitive gameplay, 16 compelling characters to master, and 12 well-designed maps, it’s got the makings of something that could go the distance in the months and years to come. In fact, it’s a testament to its FPS chops that even while it has a virtually nonexistent story and a serious need for a signature game mode, I still found myself losing dozens of hours to its PvP charms. Hopefully the live-service roadmap will do its thing and show this promising shooter the love it needs to become something truly special, but right now it’s at least good enough for me to recommend trying out.

What truly holds Concord back is its lack of identity. A story or campaign would have been a great way to showcase the world, its characters and lore, yet all of that is stuffed into the Galactic Guide that few players will probably ever read. The Freegunners and game modes are fun and mostly balanced, though feel derivative when stacked up against the already established competition. Meanwhile, map design feels safe with layouts that don’t encourage much experimentation. Concord is a good, fun game from a brand-new studio that’s currently missing its identity. It may be a bit lost in space, but Concord checks off enough boxes to hopefully chart a path forward.

I’m still marking Concord fairly high, as it’s a fun shooter with solid online play that I’ve really enjoyed playing, and look forward to continuing with throughout the year. I hope that the ship can be righted so the game has a chance to really come to life, and I’d like to see what the devs have planned for future modes, characters and so on, but at the same time it’s hard to suggest anyone drop $40 on a game that feels like it may be destined for heavy discounts, or even go free-to-play, in the near future. If you’re absolutely itching for a new hero shooter to check out, I definitely think you can have some fun with Concord, but if you’re still on the fence, you might be better off waiting just a bit longer to see how or if Concord can overcome its rocky launch.

Concord is a clean and well-meaning first-person shooter, with no shady business practices to boot. Its lack of real identity is an issue, and it’s difficult to determine just how much Sony is going to get behind it long-term. However, there’s a polished and beautifully presented experience on offer here, with some interesting tactical team-building systems and sublime animations. Firewalk’s debut may not be out of this world, but it’s genuinely pretty good overall.

Those wanting to roll the dice on Concord will find an excellent FPS full of exciting abilities, intense battles, and eye-popping visuals. The game's character designs, premium price point, and general lack of interest from the public may make it so Concord never really gets a chance, and so potential consumers need to weigh the risks of investing $40 on a game that may be dead before too long. Personally, I am glad to have played Concord and I will continue playing it as much as possible, and will be sad if the day comes when its player count dwindles to the point where it no longer makes sense to support it. Hopefully, Concord defies the odds and becomes one of Sony's long-lasting live service experiments.

Concord doesn't stand out much compared to the other free multiplayer games on the market, so you're not really missing out on much. It's sad to say, but with this poor performance, Sony will eventually give in and make it a free game; That's the only way I would recommend it.

Despite a solid and fun gameplay, Concord falls short in several other aspects, including its competitive modes and the lack of charisma of its characters. It's an average experience that can be fun in short doses and rewarding to the player who invests time on it, but it doesn't do enough to keep you hooked.

Concord has a solid foundation and interesting ideas; however, its bland cast of characters and lack of innovation make it a generic and unappealing hero shooter destined to fail, especially considering its $40 USD price tag. It's not a bad game, but is something much worse: an unnecessary product that fails to understand the market it competes in. Simply put, there are better and more enjoyable free alternatives out there

Concord is a hero shooter with effective graphics and really fun gunplay, features that fail to stand out due to the presence of significant issues, both in terms of roster balance and the characterization of individual fighters. The functioning of the round mode needs to be reviewed and the progression system seemed to us to lack bite, due to rewards that are not worthy of attention. In short, the situation of the title by Firewalk Studios is not rosy at all at the moment.

Concord has a few interesting ideas, but its live service trappings, lacklustre game design and mediocre level design keep it from being truly great.

PlayStation's new hero shooter is not off to a good start due to the lack of content and poorly defined characters. However, Concord has plenty of potential to become a good game, but it needs to take advantage of it and the market is not going to make it easy.

While Concord offers solid gameplay mechanics, its uninspired characters and limited content make it fall short of expectations. The visuals may be appealing, but the lack of depth in both lore and game modes leaves much to be desired. It's a game with potential, but it struggles to make a lasting impact in its current state.

Concord is by no means a disaster and has the potential to grow into a compelling hero shooter. But a thin selection of modes, characters who leave a weak impression, and a misguided overabundance of lore make it a hard sell currently.

A competent Overwatch clone but one so apparently allergic to new ideas it’s depressing to see it so thoroughly waste its technical triumphs and well-designed characters.

Hopefully in time, more maps and modes will give Concord a discernable, standout place in the crowded FPS market. Right now it’s a decent more-of-the-same option and a missed opportunity for Sony.

It's passable, all the way through. The matches are okay in terms of entertainment value, the game feel is okay and the developers have done a decent job of building their own hero party based on the fact that Blizzard is behind, but there is also a lack of intrinsic value here and given that they have borrowed so freely from Paladins, Overwatch and even Lawbreakers and thus failed to build their own identity, there is no reason for me to continue playing - when I can continue to enjoy the originals instead.

Even without everything against it, Firewalk Studios' entry in the live-service hero shooter genre fundamentally underwhelms.

It doesn’t have a tidal wave of fans supporting it, and it isn’t free to try out or available with any subscription service, so it has a lot of work to do in order to make the effort of playing it worthwhile. Whether that be through trial periods, new modes not before seen in the genre, or even a boost from Secret Level when it airs months from now, but as a middle-of-the-road hero shooter, it can’t rely on any one of these things alone. Concord is good, but it’s not in a good place, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to not only keep it afloat, but to get the motor running.

There’s a good game under all the rubble and perplexing business decisions (such as not giving it out in PS Plus Extra), but why should you put up with all these frustrations when the game doesn’t a have distinct identity and there are better alternatives available for free right now?

Concord is an enjoyable shooter, kneecapped by a $40 price tag and a bland cast of characters. When it arrives on PlayStation Plus, which feels almost certain at this point, its worth picking up, but only with the enthusiasm you'd treat any other free-to-play fare.

Concord has the bones of a fun multiplayer game, but it's missing the meat.

As it stands, however, it is a project that puts the long testing phase it desperately needs behind the payment of an entrance fee, among other things in an undergrowth in which the competition has adopted the free-to-play model for years, running the risk of generating a fall from which it seems difficult to recover.

Concord feels like a game that was made when Overwatch was just getting popular, but never kept up with any development in the industry. The action is decent, but a lack of good content, personality, and unique ideas do the game in.

Concord fails to capture the hearts of players, whether due to its conceptual flaws or its lack of personality. The characters are forgettable, and the game modes can quickly become repetitive.

Concord will forever be remembered as one of the most notorious flops in the entire industry. And yet there is hope that at least some lessons can be learned from this whole ordeal.

Concord is an immense waste of resources (and it's not even a free-to-play), a project that also runs the risk of not being able to recover in the long run.

Concord is not a horrible game or an industrial accident, but it is not up to other competitors. Even more after eight years of development. If the SF universe and the mood The Guardians of the Galaxy are interesting at first, it would have been better exploited with a solo mode annex for example. Although the variety of heroes and their skills is one of the qualities of the title, we regret the relative softness of the set, the lack of sensations of some powers and originality in the modes. In the end, after a few hours, and except for this test, we have trouble thinking that we will play it again.

In one of the trailers for Concord, the character Lennox says an interesting phrase: "Coming close to death is the best way to learn how not to die." In its release week, the game has clearly reached the "near death" stage. Now it's up to the Firewalk team to fulfill their prophecy, or suffer like so many other games in the hero shooter genre.

Concord is a game that came out eight years too late and as a result is visibly lagging behind its competition in every way. This game makes sense to buy only if you are bored of every other hero shooter game and you have excess money in your pocket that you urgently need to get rid of.

Concord is a bland, personality-less hero shooter that was a good few years late to the party, yet failed to build on the achievements of its predecessors and insisted on doing everything its own way, with very poor results.

To say there’s a lot to hate about Concord implies it has a lot of anything. While not strictly skeletal in content, it nonetheless offers little of note in a market that’s already saturated with similar games all vying to dominate the finite time of their players. Sony’s delivered the perfect picture of a game nobody was asking for, an impeccable example of the nonessential product. Even if I didn’t hate it, I sure as hell wouldn’t find enough to love.

Concord is another live service game that will be a cautionary tale to developers not to chase trends. A bog-standard hero shooter with messy meta game elements will not bring people over from Overwatch. The fact that they charge 40 euros for this will only be a detriment to the game and I personally expect the good old serviceshutdown.jpg on X in the near future.

Concord is a hero shooter game that came to the scene 8 years too late, it doesn't renovate the genre in any way, just another live service game to the live service well...